Boy Next Door
by LesMisfit
Summary: AU - It's summer vacation, and Blaine is bored to death. But things start looking up when the Evans family moves in next door with their gorgeous son Sam. Unfortunately, Sam is straight...right? Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, readers! I'm a big Blam shipper, and I've been meaning to write a story involving them for a while, so here is the first chapter. I had a lot of fun writing this, once I finally got started, and I wrote it all today, so if there are errors or you think it sucks, I'll understand, but I do have to say I'm pretty happy with it, especially with how I wrote Blaine's family. So, anyway, I'd love some reviews to let me know what's working. I have the first few chapters planned out already, but at some point I might start asking what y'all would like to see :) Enjoy!**

**P.S. For those of you who started reading my first story "Not On Your Own Anymore" (a Klaine story) and are wondering why I only wrote three chapters and haven't updated since this summer... I won't bore you with the details, but this semester at school has been an absolute stress machine. Three out of my four classes have been centered around creative writing, so doing it so much for school kind of made me want to avoid writing in my free time, so that's all I have to say about that. I think I will finish that story at some point, but this has been taking over my brain lately, so I'm going to be focused primarily on it. Sorry about that!**

* * *

As Blaine lay on his bed trying to count the little bumps on his popcorn-textured ceiling for the third time that day, he wracked his brain for something to do. It was three weeks into summer vacation, and he was already bored with all the activities he used to take such pleasure in. Ten-hour Xbox sessions didn't mean as much when he could have one every day with no schoolwork to worry about; he had already read everything on his bookshelf at least twice (sure, there was some assigned summer reading, but who does that until at least a week or two before school starts?); and even swimming in his family's pool wasn't as appealing when there was no one to enjoy it with him.

Normally, Blaine would have his school friends around to make the time pass more quickly. But this summer was different. Everyone had either gone away with their families for vacation or had gotten summer jobs that dominated their schedules. And since Blaine was also lamentably boyfriend-less, he was left all alone. Well, he had his parents, of course, and they were great, but he didn't exactly want to "hang out" with them.

By this point on any other day, Blaine would have already resulted to his favorite method of passing time and relieving built up tension: a very long and very thorough "self-love" ritual. However, his mother, not feeling well, had decided to stay home from work. The knowledge that she was right in the other room effectively discouraged Blaine from any erotic activity in which he would have otherwise partaken.

Blaine had just lost count of the bumps and was starting in on his fourth round of counting when he heard the sound of the mail truck approaching. Thankful for the opportunity to do anything else, he sprang up and made his way to the front door.

"Mail's here, I'll get it," he called out.

"Okay, sweetie, thank you."

Before going outside, Blaine quickly checked his appearance in the mirror that hung next to the door. He didn't necessarily expect that he would need to look his best, but he never knew when a hot guy might happen to drive by. After making sure that the collar on his button-down shirt was even and his dark, curly hair was sufficiently gelled down, he opened the door and started down the walkway towards the mailbox.

The first thing he noticed was the large moving van parked in front of the house next door. The back-end was open and Blaine saw that it was full of stuff, but it looked like it was already partially empty. The house had been vacant for almost a month, so the prospects of a new family in the neighborhood, especially right next door, excited him.

_Maybe there'll finally be another kid on the street that I can be friends with_, he thought.

He reached the mailbox, opened it up, and started looking through the various envelopes and magazines to see what was important and what could be thrown away. His attention was diverted, though, when the front door of the newly inhabited house opened and two blonde children, a boy and a girl, ran out into the front yard. The boy appeared to be eight or nine years old and was carrying a small soccer ball; the girl was probably a year or two younger.

Blaine sighed. _Well, shit. I should have been more specific and wished for another _teenage_ kid to hang out with._

They stopped when they saw Blaine. The boy only briefly looked at him before continuing into the yard. The girl gave a small smile and a little wave. Blaine, wanting to seem friendly, did the same. He considered for a moment approaching and introducing himself, but then he figured that it might freak out their parents to see a strange boy attempting to converse with their young children.

"C'mon, Stacey, let's play catch," the boy called out, breaking Blaine from his short zone-out. Taking that as his cue, he gave one last nod to Stacey and her brother and walked back up the concrete pathway into his own house. Once inside, he headed to his parents' bedroom where his mother was resting on the bed.

"Here you go, mom," he said, handing over her mail and sitting next to her on the edge of the bed.

She smiled. "Oh, thank you, Blaine. You're so good to me."

"Not a problem," Blaine began. "There're some people moving into that house next door."

"Really? It's about time that thing sold. Did you see anyone?"

"Just a couple of kids, both less than ten probably."

"Did you talk to them?"

"No, I didn't want to seem like a creep."

She scoffed. "Blaine, since when is being friendly being a creep? Anyway, we'll have to go introduce ourselves at some point, once I feel better."

"All right, mom," Blaine laughed a little and shook his head. "Well, is there anything else you need while I'm here?"

"No thanks, sweetie, I'm fine for now."

With that, Blaine got up and went into the living room.

_I guess I'll just see if there's anything interesting on TV._

* * *

About an hour later, the doorbell rang. Blaine furrowed his brow and looked toward the front door.

_Who the hell could that be? It's the middle of a weekday._

He turned off the television—he wasn't even really sure what he'd been watching for the last sixty minutes—and rose from the sofa to go answer the door. As soon as he opened it up and saw who was standing there, he hoped that his face didn't reflect the feelings that erupted inside him.

There on the porch was the most gorgeous guy Blaine had ever laid eyes on. He was taller than Blaine by a few inches. He had straight, light-blonde hair that covered his forehead and fell slightly into his blue eyes (or were they green? Blaine couldn't tell). And then the lips: he had the fullest, most luscious, most utterly delicious-looking lips Blaine had ever seen. These separated and turned up into a bright smile.

"Hi there," the beautiful boy began. "I'm Sam Evans. My family is moving in next door," he said, gesturing over towards the moving truck Blaine had seen earlier.

_Sweet Lord, there is a God! My second wish was answered! I'm glad I made sure I looked good earlier!_

Blaine was still in shock from the sheer hotness of the creature standing on his front porch. After a second or two of silence, Blaine's mind finally started working again and he held out his hand.

"H-hi," he said, his voice still a bit uneven. "I'm Blaine."

Sam smiled again and shook Blaine's hand. As soon as their skin touched, Blaine's hand felt tingly all over, like the feeling when a foot or a leg is waking up from having gone to sleep, but in a good, non-painful way.

"Nice to meet you," Sam said. The two boys stood there for a few seconds, hands still clasped in the handshake. Finally, Blaine realized how long it had been and let go; Sam chuckled awkwardly.

"Um, anyway, now that I've introduced myself, that's not the only reason I came over here," he said, that brilliant smile flashing again. "My little brother and sister were playing with a ball, and it went over the fence into your backyard. Could I get that back for them?"

"Oh, yeah, of course," Blaine said. "Come on in, I'll take you." He stepped aside so Sam could get through the door.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Sam said as he walked into the Anderson home.

Blaine shut the front door behind them. "No problem at all. Follow me."

Sam walked behind Blaine through the living room and to the sliding glass door that led to the backyard.

"Damn, this is a nice house," Sam stated.

"Thanks," Blaine answered with a little laugh. "I like it well enough."

Blaine opened up the sliding glass door. "After you," he said, motioning for Sam to exit first, which he did. Blaine walked out behind Sam and took full advantage of the view…which he totally didn't plan at all. Sam had broad shoulders, and his middle tapered down to a slim waist and, from what Blaine could tell through the denim blue-jeans, a _very_ nice ass. Long story short, the boy had the body of a Greek god. Luckily Sam's attention was focused elsewhere, so he didn't notice Blaine's rather obvious ogling.

"Dude, this is a sweet pool," Sam exclaimed. "Y'all have a hot tub and everything."

"Thank you," Blaine said, glad for the distraction so he wouldn't be caught drooling. "You'll have to come over some time and we can go swimming."

Sam turned around and smiled that aggravatingly dazzling smile again. "That would be awesome, man. Thanks." He turned back around and scanned the grassy area. "Oh, there's the ball." Blaine turned his head in the direction Sam was looking and, sure enough, there was the little soccer ball he had seen the two kids playing with before.

The two walked over; Sam bent down and picked the ball up.

"Normally I would have just hopped the fence to come get this instead of going to your door, but I figured that would be kind of weird," he said, laughing.

Blaine laughed too. "Well, now I know you, so if you ever need to come retrieve another ball, feel free to come over the fence if no one's back here to get it for you."

"I'm sure I will have to at some point. Stevie and Stacey have a knack for losing toys that way. But that's little siblings for you."

"Yeah, but they seem like cute kids," Blaine said. Then Sam gave him a funny look and he realized what he'd just said, quickly adding, "I saw them out in the front yard a little while ago when I went to get our mail."

The look of confusion left Sam's face. "Oh yeah, they were out there. I told them to go play in the back. With my parents and me taking care of stuff inside, I didn't want them out near the street and where we couldn't keep an eye on them."

_Oh my God, he's not only hot but he's sweet and thoughtful too!_ Blaine swooned for a moment. "You sound like a great big brother."

"It's just my job," Sam replied. "Well, I'd better get back over to the house. Stevie and Stacey will be wanting their ball back and my parents still need my help in getting everything unpacked."

"All right," Blaine said, a little disappointed that Sam had to go. "I'll walk you back out. Do you need help with anything over there?"

"Nah, we've got everything inside, it's just a matter of arranging furniture and unboxing stuff. Thank you for offering, though."

The two boys walked back through the Anderson house and to the front door. Blaine opened it for Sam and he stepped out onto the porch. He turned back around to face Blaine.

"Well, thanks again for letting me go get this," he said, holding up the ball.

"Like I said, no problem," Blaine answered with a smile.

Sam smiled back. "You know, I'm glad we met. Knowing this was an older neighborhood, I was worried there wouldn't be anyone for me to hang out with for the rest of the summer."

"Likewise," Blaine said. "And it's lucky for you that I am here, because when it comes to teenagers on this street, I was the only one until you showed up."

Sam laughed at this. "Yeah, lucky for me, huh? Well, I've got to go, but it was great to meet you, and maybe we can hang out sometime soon. It'll be nice to have a buddy around."

_A buddy? Damn!_ Blaine thought. "Definitely. You know where to find me," he said.

"This I do," Sam said, chuckling again. "See you, Blaine." With one last smile and one last little wave, Sam turned and walked back to his family's new house.

"Bye, Sam," Blaine said before shutting the door. He turned around and leaned against it, shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath to stifle the squeal building up in his throat, feeling like a giddy girl who just got home from a perfect date, but not even caring about the corniness of the gesture.

The next thing he heard was his mother's voice.

"Well, well, who was that, dear?"

Startled, Blaine opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the voice. His mother was wearing her bathrobe, standing next to the sofa in the living room, a slight smirk present on her face.

"When did you get there?" Blaine asked in shock.

"Doesn't matter. Who was that?" she said again.

"His name is Sam Evans. It's his family moving in next door. The little kids from earlier accidentally threw their ball into our backyard, so he came over here to get it."

"That was sweet of him," she said. "From what I just happened to witness, I assume he's something of a looker."

Blaine looked his mother square in the face. "I can't describe it. It's an otherworldly beauty that has to be seen to be comprehended."

She laughed out loud at this. "I'll take your word for it, honey. Does he play for your team?"

"He told me that he's glad I'm here to be his 'buddy,' mom. Somehow that makes me doubt it."

"Hm, oh well. Nothing says you can't still enjoy the scenery," she said, turning and going back to her bedroom, leaving Blaine still leaning against the door.

* * *

At the dinner table that night, Blaine's father opened up the conversation towards his wife.

"So, Jane, are you feeling better?"

"Oh, yes," she responded. "I had our little Blainey-boo here to tend to my every need."

"Excellent. Son, besides taking care of your mother, what exciting things did you do today?"

"Not much," Blaine responded.

"Come on now, Blaine, don't lie to your father," his mother said, snickering. "Our son is in love, Michael."

"Mom," Blaine whined, "I told you, he's not even interested in that."

"Oh, really? Who's the lucky fellow?" his father said, ignoring Blaine's remark.

"His name is Sam. His family just moved in next door and I just met him today," Blaine said tersely.

"Oh, that's all you're going to say, is it? What about the part where you swooned over him for almost a minute after he left?"

Blaine groaned. "My level of attraction to him is irrelevant. He's straight."

"Does he know you're not?"

"Not unless he can read minds and heard all the stuff I was thinking about his body. It didn't exactly come up in the flow of conversation."

"It's okay, son," Blaine's father assured him. "Someday you'll find someone who wants nothing more than to buy what you're selling."

"Dad, please don't ever say that again."

* * *

That night Blaine lay in bed, trying to go to sleep, but something was keeping him up…certainly not the unforgettable image of blonde hair, green (or blue) eyes, full lips, and a perfectly shaped ass.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, readers! I've got to say, I'm very pleased with the response this story has gotten so far. I want to thank those who have added this to their Favorites and followed it and left reviews. I appreciate any feedback y'all have to give me.**

**I'm officially on Christmas break, so I figured I'd use some of my extra time to get another chapter out of my head and onto the page. Again, I wrote this whole thing in basically one sitting, so I apologize for any errors. I'm really OCD about typos, so at some point, as I did with the first chapter, I'll go through this meticulously and fix any grammatical or formatting errors; for now I just wanted y'all to have this. I'm having a blast writing Blam, and I'm excited for where I know it's going to get before too long ;) But, without further ado, here's another chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

The next day, Blaine found himself facing a dilemma.

_To go next door, or to not go next door? I really want to see Sam again, but I don't want to freak him out by coming on too strong…but I _really_ want to see Sam again._

It was about two o'clock in the afternoon, and he had been going back and forth practically the whole day. Almost the instant Blaine woke up, the first thing he thought of was Sam. Feeling better, his mother had gone to work, so there was absolutely no one around to distract him and keep him from getting too deep into his own head.

Finally, Blaine had had enough of sitting around and doing nothing. _Fuck it, _he thought, _I'm going over there. What's the worst that can happen? Besides, we really seemed to get along yesterday, so why wouldn't he want to hang out again?_

He almost walked out the door then and there, but quickly stopped himself. Blaine looked down at the clothes he was wearing—black jeans and a simple red t-shirt—and decided to put on at least a more flattering shirt. He went into his room and picked through his closet before selecting a green and white plaid button-down. Once he had put it on, he took a quick look at his reflection in the full-body mirror that hung next to his closet, making sure he looked good from head to toe.

_Sam might not be gay, but that doesn't mean I can't make him wish he was_, Blaine thought with a little laugh.

Satisfied with his whole appearance, Blaine headed outside, locked his own front door, and made his way to Sam's. As he stood on the front porch, he took a deep breath to calm himself before ringing the doorbell.

"I'll get it," Blaine heard from inside the house. It sounded like a child's voice, so he assumed it was one of Sam's younger siblings. The door opened up a few seconds later and, sure enough, there stood the little blonde girl, Stacey, he had seen the day before.

She didn't say anything, so Blaine took the initiative. He smiled brightly at her. "Hello there," he said.

"Hi," she replied, a bit timidly. "I saw you yesterday."

"That's right, you did. I live in the house ne—"

"Stacey, honey, who is it?" came a voice from inside the house. A second later, Blaine saw a blonde woman—_Is anyone in this family _not_ blonde?_—come around the corner into the entryway. She saw Blaine standing on the porch as she approached the door.

"Hello. Can I help you?" she asked. Stacey, seeing she was no longer needed, turned around and went back into the house.

_Oh God, this must be Sam's mother! What if she doesn't like me? Just play it cool, Anderson._ Blaine gave her the same bright smile he had given Stacey just a moment before.

"Hi there, my name's Blaine. I live right next door."

A look of recognition appeared on the woman's face, and she smiled. "Oh, where the kids threw their ball over the fence yesterday. You're the one Sam talked to."

Blaine breathed a sigh of relief, happy that the woman hadn't slammed the door in his face, and even happier that Sam had apparently told his family about him.

"That would be me," Blaine said. "Actually, I was wondering if Sam was around."

"Oh, sure, he's just unpacking in his room. Come on in, I'll call him for you." She held out her hand as Blaine came through the door. "I'm Mary Evans, by the way, Sam's mom."

Blaine shook her hand. "Really," he said, feeling bold, "I would have guessed you were his sister." He regretted it as soon as he said it, though, thinking it was too much. Thankfully she laughed.

"I like you already, Blaine," she said with a little wink. "Sam," she called out, "you have a visitor."

"A visitor?" Blaine heard Sam's voice from down a hallway.

She turned back to Blaine. "I'm just going to keep unpacking in the kitchen. It was very nice to meet you, Blaine."

"Same here, Mrs. Evans," Blaine replied.

"Oh, you can call me Mary, dear." She walked back the way she had come from.

A moment later, Sam himself appeared, wearing jeans similar to the ones he had been wearing the day before and a plain white t-shirt (Blaine couldn't help but notice how tightly it fit the boy's well-defined torso). When he saw Blaine, that same perfect smile graced his face.

"Hey, Blaine, what's up?" he said.

"Um, not much," Blaine began, feeling a bit more nervous now that Sam was actually in the room. "I was just wondering if you had any plans for today, but if you're too busy with unpacking…" He didn't know quite how to finish his sentence, but luckily Sam spoke again before an awkward silence set in.

"Not at all. I'd actually be thankful for the chance to do something other than unpack. What did you have in mind?" he said enthusiastically.

Blaine felt a huge grin take over his face when he saw Sam's excitement. "Well, nothing major. I just thought I could show you around a little, some of my favorite places. If you like coffee, there's a great little shop not too far from here."

"That sounds like fun, and, yes, coffee sounds amazing right now. Let me just go tell my mom real quick."

Sam went into the kitchen where his mother had gone, leaving Blaine alone in the entryway. He seized the moment to do some internal celebration.

_He said yes! Sam is coming with me to get coffee! Calm down, Blaine, it's not like it's a date… But it's sort of like one, which is further than I thought I could ever get with a guy like him!_

Blaine saw Sam coming back, so he quickly forced himself to regain his composure.

"All right," Sam said, "we're good to go. Lead the way."

The two boys headed outside together, walking side by side toward the sidewalk.

"I hope you don't mind if we walk there," Blaine said. "For one thing, I don't have my own car, and also this place is just a few blocks down the way."

Sam smiled. "Totally cool with me. I needed some exercise today anyway. With moving and everything, I haven't had much chance to work out the last few days."

Blaine stole a sideways glance at Sam's flawless physique. _Could have fooled me._

Then Sam continued. "I hope _you_ don't mind that I didn't change clothes before we left. I didn't even think about it, and now your fashion sense is kicking mine's ass pretty badly," he said with a laugh.

Blaine laughed too. "Well, thank you, but you look fine." _Damn fine, is more like it._ "We're just going to the coffee shop, not hitting the red carpet. And we're already sort of friends, so you don't need to dress well to impress me."

"Well, I'll keep that in mind."

The two shared another laugh and continued on their walk.

* * *

On the way to the coffee shop, Blaine pointed out to Sam a few of his favorite haunts: the music store where he bought all of his CDs; an independently owned bookstore that always had interesting selections; and a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that Blaine and his parents visited fairly often. Finally, the pair reached their destination.

"And here we are," Blaine said dramatically as he opened the door for Sam, "the Lima Bean. Don't make fun of me, I didn't pick the name."

Sam chuckled as he looked around, surveying the place. "I would never. It's very charming. The shop, it's very charming."

_Nice save there, Evans_, Blaine thought. _Better watch out, you could give a guy the wrong idea._

Blaine approached the counter, Sam following close behind. Luckily the place wasn't very busy and there were only a couple of people in front of them in line. Blaine was just about to say something so that the conversation would keep moving, but Sam beat him to it.

"So, what's good here?"

"Well, my usual order is a medium drip, but everything they make here is good."

"I'm not really sure what 'medium drip' means, but if you'd recommend it, I'll give it a go."

Blaine giggled. "Excellent choice."

By this time it was their turn to order. Blaine stepped up to the counter, giving the barista a friendly smile.

"Welcome to the Lima Bean," she said, "What can I get for you today?"

"Hi. I'll just have two medium drips."

Blaine noticed Sam starting to pull out his wallet, but stopped him.

"No, no, put that away. It's on me."

Sam looked unsure. "Come on, you don't have to pay for me."

"I know I don't _have_ to, but just let me get it. Besides, I invited you. Just consider it a welcome-to-the-neighborhood gift."

Sam looked like he wanted to argue again, but instead simply pocketed his wallet. "Well, thanks. That's very nice of you."

Blaine hoped he wasn't blushing as brightly as he felt like he was. He paid the barista, telling her to keep the change. They stood by the counter and waited for their coffees, and when they had them in hand they went and sat down across from each other at a table.

"So," Blaine began, figuring it was time to start with the getting-to-know-you portion of their relationship, "what brings the Evans family to the great metropolis of Lima, Ohio?"

Sam laughed a bit before answering. "It's not an extremely exciting story. My dad had to transfer because of his job, so here I am."

"Wow, just like that?" Blaine replied. "You just had to leave everything behind and move somewhere completely new?"

Sam had taken a drink of his coffee while Blaine was talking. "Whoa, this is amazing, Blaine. Probably the best coffee I've ever had. I don't think I'll need to even try anything else on the menu; I'm just going to jack your usual."

Blaine laughed at this. "I told you it was good. I'm glad you like it. Be careful, though, I'm pretty sure it's addicting."

"You're probably right," Sam said. "Anyway, yeah, we have to leave, but it's not so bad. They say everything happens for a reason, right? One upside is that it's the middle of summer, so at least I didn't have to deal with switching schools in the middle of the year."

"That is fortunate," Blaine agreed. "Speaking of school, do you know where you'll be going once it starts again?" he asked, hoping he already knew the answer.

"Yeah, William McKinley High."

_Yes!_ "Well, then it looks like we're going to be seeing even more of each other when September rolls around."

Sam's eyes widened with surprise. "No way," he exclaimed, "you go to McKinley? Will you be a senior this year?"

"Yes and yes."

"Me too. Holy shit—pardon my French—this is so cool."

"You don't have to pardon your fucking French around me," Blaine said, both of them laughing. "And, wow, this is cool."

"It's such a relief to know that I'll have a friend at school too. Being the 'new kid' has kind of been freaking me out, but I haven't felt that at all. And I've only even been here for two days."

Blaine smiled warmly at Sam's reaction. All physical attraction aside, it felt good to know that he was making Sam feel welcome.

"Don't you worry about a thing. I can introduce you to all my friends; I won't leave you on your own."

"Hey, now that you've mentioned it, where are all your friends? This is the second day in a row you've apparently had nothing better to do than hang out with me all afternoon. What gives?"

_I'd blow off any of them to spend time with you in a heartbeat_. "Yeah, about that. Everyone I know either went off to spend summer vacation away with their families or they got jobs that take up all of their time. I've kind of been flying solo these last few weeks."

"Damn," Sam said, looking slightly concerned, "that really sucks."

Blaine shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, it's cool. And, I got to meet you out of all this. I can't really complain."

Sam smiled again, a smaller, sweeter smile, yet still as beautiful as his usual dazzling one. "You're really awesome, Blaine."

Blaine felt a warmth spread all over his body, and this time he was certain that a deep blush was coloring his face, but he couldn't even bring himself to care.

They kept talking for at least an hour, about their families, their favorite movies and video games—they had agreed that each would have to let the other check out their respective collections—and their mutual love of music. Sam had been fascinated when he learned that Blaine played piano, and Blaine was equally impressed that Sam played guitar.

_Guitar is such a sexy instrument,_ Blaine had thought, _and much straighter than piano._

Finally, they had decided it was about time to head home, as Sam still had some unpacking to do and Blaine didn't want his parents to get home from work and find him gone, especially when he hadn't left a note. They walked the few blocks back to their houses, continuing to chat amiably the whole way, and stopped when they reached the sidewalk in front of Sam's house.

"This was really fun, Blaine," Sam said. "Thanks for inviting me, and thank you again for treating me."

Blaine chuckled and shook his head. "Like I said, it was my pleasure."

"I'm serious, though, next time we do something, it'll be on me. Don't even think about arguing."

"All right, all right, it's a deal," Blaine said, raising his arms in mock surrender.

"Oh, I just realized, can I have your phone number?"

Sam's sudden change of topic caught Blaine a little off-guard, but he recovered quickly. "Only if I can have yours."

Sam smiled, and pulled out his phone. "Of course. I just thought if one of us ever needs to get ahold of the other, calling or texting would be quicker and easier than our current method of walking over and seeing who's home. Not that it wasn't nice to hear that I had a visitor, but this is the twenty-first century after all."

"You certainly make a convincing case," Blaine said, handing over his own phone and taking Sam's in return. Blaine typed his number into Sam's phone and waited for Sam to get done with his. Just as the boys were trading their phones back, Blaine noticed his mother's car driving down the street towards them.

"Oh boy, my mom's just getting home," Blaine said.

"Awesome, I'd love to meet her," Sam said.

When she got closer and noticed them, she smiled and waved. Blaine and Sam walked closer to the Andersons' driveway and waited for Blaine's mother to pull in and park. She turned off the car and got out, walking immediately over to her son and his friend.

"Hi, mom," Blaine said, giving her a hug when she reached them. "How was work?"

"It was just fine, sweetie." When they released the hug, she turned to face Sam. "And who is this?"

Sam stuck out his hand. "Hello, ma'am, I'm Sam Evans. I just moved in next door."

She smiled at him. "Oh, you're so polite. It's nice to meet you, Sam, and you can call me Jane."

"Well then it's a pleasure to meet you, Jane."

"What have you been up to, boys?"

Blaine wanted to make the conversation end before his mother said something to embarrass him, but Sam started answering the question before he had a chance.

"Blaine just showed me around a little bit and we went to grab some coffee."

She looked over at Blaine. "Oh, how thoughtful of you, sweetie," she said, pinching his cheek and making him blush.

"Mom…" he said with a slight whine.

Sam just laughed. "Yes, he's been a perfect gentleman all day."

"Well, you seem like a very nice young man yourself, Sam. I'd love to meet the rest of your family."

Sam smiled back. "I think that could pretty easily be arranged."

"Come to think of it," Blaine's mother began, and Blaine instantly became nervous about what she was going to say next, "why don't you and your family come over for dinner tomorrow night?"

Blaine's eyes became the size of dinner plates. He had _not_ been prepared for that.

_Way to go, mom! I've been trying to play it cool all day and here you come and ruin everything. He's probably freaked out because she came on too strong and—_

"That sounds great. I'll check with my parents, and then I'll let Blaine know."

"Perfect," she said. She looked at Blaine. "How does that sound, honey?"

"Yeah, perfect," he said, breathing an internal sigh of relief that Sam had responded so positively.

"Okay, well, I've got to get on inside," Sam said, "but it was really nice meeting you, Jane. Thanks again, Blaine, and I'll see you soon."

"Bye, Sam," both Blaine and his mother said at the same time.

Both parties then turned and went to their respective homes. As soon as they got inside and shut the door, Blaine's mother simply looked at him with a knowing look mixed with a smirk.

"You're right," she said, "he is beautiful."

"Mom, what were you thinking?" Blaine groaned out, paying no attention to her remark, regardless of how accurate it was. "We barely met them, and you're already inviting the whole family over for dinner?"

"Yes, Blaine, it's called being neighborly. Besides, he seemed pretty pleased with the idea when I proposed it."

"Yeah, luckily," Blaine retorted.

His mother just laughed and shook her head at her son's exaggerated reaction.

"Okay, I'm going to go get tonight's dinner ready. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

As she turned and walked away, Blaine felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and saw it was a text from Sam.

**Hey, Blaine! I talked to my parents, and they said they'd love dinner at your place tomorrow. See you then!**

_Well, it's too late now. This is actually happening._

Blaine sent a brief response—**Awesome! See you tomorrow! :)**—and then went into the kitchen, where his mother was setting out the ingredients for the meal she was cooking.

"Sam says his family would love to come over for dinner tomorrow."

She smiled triumphantly. "Excellent. Don't worry, Blaine, your father and I won't do anything to embarrass you in front of Evans the Dreamy."

Blaine just rolled his eyes and went back to his bedroom. He thought back on his afternoon with Sam, and he couldn't have been happier about it. He had gotten to spend the day with a really cool guy who thought that Blaine was "awesome" in return, and he just happened to be insanely hot. Really, it was perfect.

_We'll just have to see how tomorrow evening goes…_


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again, readers! Thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed so far! I apologize for the significantly longer wait for this update, but I didn't have much opportunity to write during the holidays. I think the wait is worth it, though :) I'm pretty happy with this chapter; there's not a whole lot of specific Blam interaction, but I like feel of it overall and how it adds to the characters.**

**Anyway, enough chit chat. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy! :)**

* * *

"How's dinner coming, mom? Everything turning out okay?"

Blaine's mother sighed. "For the fourth time, yes, Blaine, everything is going fine."

The whole day, Blaine had been on edge and anxious about the Evans'—more specifically, Sam—coming over for dinner. His mother had told him that dinner would be ready at about 7:30, so Blaine had texted Sam that morning to tell him that they should come over around that time. It was 7:15, and all the apprehension Blaine had been feeling was multiplied to an all new level.

"I don't see why you're so nervous, sweetie," Blaine's mother said as she watched him wring his hands and check the time every three seconds. "I'm the one preparing a meal for eight."

Blaine shot his mother a look of sympathy. "I know, mom, and I'm sure they'll love your cooking. I'm just nervous because it's the first time Sam's family is meeting us and I just really want to make a good impression."

"Well, honey, all you've got to do is be your usual delightful self, and everything will go great. I mean, you started grooming and dressing yourself before I even started cooking, so if anything, I'm sure it won't be your appearance that turns them off of us."

It was true. Blaine had figured that he would allot himself about three hours to get ready. In that time, he made sure he showered, brushed and flossed his teeth thoroughly, shaved his little bit of stubble, plucked some eyebrow hairs that had grown slightly askew, trimmed his fingernails and toenails, picked out the _perfect _outfit, and, of course, gelled his dark, curly hair into submission. He looked down once again at what he had decided to wear: light khaki slacks and a short-sleeved white button-down, topped off with a black and gray argyle sweater vest, a black bow tie and black loafers. He wanted to look nice without it coming across as trying too hard.

Blaine's mother knew she had made a mistake in turning her son's attention to himself when she saw Blaine's suddenly concerned expression.

"I'm not so sure about the bow tie now," he said. "What do you think? Yes or no?"

"Blaine, you look fantastic either way. It's up to you."

"You're no help at all," Blaine groaned.

About this time, Blaine's father walked into the kitchen.

"Everything smells wonderful in here, Ja—"

"Dad," Blaine interrupted almost frantically, "quick: bow tie or no bow tie?"

Blaine's father took a moment to survey his son. He crossed his arms, leaned forward, squinted a bit, and stroked his chin.

"Well?" Blaine asked impatiently.

"Could you turn to the left, son?" Blaine did so. "Now to the right." Again, Blaine complied. "Now turn completely around for me."

"Oh, come on, dad," Blaine exclaimed, realizing his father was messing with him. "The Evans' will be here any minute. I don't have time for games. Just give me an answer, and don't even think about telling me it's fine either way."

Blaine's father laughed briefly at his son's melodramatic behavior. "Okay, son, I'd say no bow tie. If these people are half as nice as you've made them out to be, they're not going to judge you for not wearing it."

Blaine was a bit taken aback by the reasonableness of his father's response. "Wow, dad, thank you. That was very helpful. Who'd have thought it'd be you I'd have to rely on for sound fashion advice," he said with a little laugh. His mother stuck out her tongue at him playfully.

As he headed back into his room to remove the bow tie and put it away, the sound of the doorbell rang through the house. Instantly, Blaine lost the at-ease feeling the fun moment with his parents had just put him in. He hurriedly undid the bow tie and put it back in his drawer.

_Shit, shit! They're actually here, standing on my front porch._

"That must be them. I'll get it," Blaine heard his father, who was setting the table in the dining room.

"No," Blaine yelled. "I know them the best, I'll let them in," he said as he ran to beat his father to the door.

"Okay, son, whatever."

When Blaine reached the door, he was so nervous that he almost forgot his obligatory mirror-check before opening it. After taking a half-second to see that his increased nervousness and that sprint from his room hadn't negatively affected his appearance—_Actually, I think all this excitement has given my cheeks a nice rosiness that was lacking before._—he opened the door.

Sam was standing front and center, looking perfect as ever in a pair of black slacks and a light green button-down. _Ooh, he cleans up nice. _Slightly behind him stood Stevie and Stacey, his mother Mary, and a man that Blaine had to guess was Sam's father.

"Hello and welcome," Blaine said, putting on his best smile and host-like demeanor. "Come on in."

Sam entered first, followed by his mother, his younger siblings, and finally his father. "Hey, Blaine," he said, smile wide as he walked through the door.

"Hi, Sam," Blaine said returning his smile.

"Thanks for having us over. It was really nice of y'all."

"Oh, thank my mom, it was all her idea," Blaine said with a chuckle. "But I'm glad y'all could make it. It's about time I met the rest of your family."

Sam grinned. "Right, well, you already met my mom."

Blaine turned to face the pretty blonde woman. "Very nice to see you again, Mrs. Evans."

"None of that, Blaine," she said as she moved forward and gave Blaine a hug. "I told you, just call me Mary."

"And this," Sam continued, "is my dad."

Blaine turned to the tall man. His hair was graying, but it was obvious that his natural hair color was, what else, blonde. Blaine saw now that he was holding a bottle of red wine as he moved forward to greet him.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Evans. I'm Blaine Anderson," he said, holding out his hand.

"Great to meet you officially, Blaine. I've been hearing a lot about you," he said, shaking Blaine's hand. "And call me Dwight."

"Noted," Blaine replied with a smile.

Sam had moved over to stand next to the two youngest Evans children. "And finally, we have Stevie and Stacey."

Blaine leaned down to be more on their level. He focused on Stevie first. "Hi, Stevie. How are you?"

The young boy looked a bit shy and didn't say anything. "Stevie, say hi to Blaine," Mary said.

"Hi. I'm fine," he said quietly.

Wanting to make him feel more comfortable, Blaine kept up his energy. "How old are you?"

"I'm eight and a half," Stevie said with a little more confidence.

"Wow, that's an awesome age. You're not far from the double digits."

Stevie didn't reply, but he smiled a little, which Blaine took as a good sign.

"I'm six," Stacey piped up, not wanting to be left out of the conversation.

"You are?" Blaine asked dramatically. "That's getting to be a big girl."

"I know," she said enthusiastically. "Thank you for giving our ball back to Sammy."

_Sammy_, Blaine thought. _That's the most adorable thing I've ever heard. I wonder if he'd ever let me call him that._

Sam chuckled a bit, and looked a little embarrassed. "Yeah, I told them that you were the one who helped me get that back for them, so you've pretty much passed their approval already."

Blaine looked back to Stacey. "Well, you're very welcome."

Just as Blaine was standing back up to his full height, Blaine's father came into the entryway from the dining room.

"Hello there," he said in his friendly, booming voice. "You must be the Evans'. I'm Michael Anderson," he continued as he shook everybody's hand and proper introductions were made.

"Thank you for having us over," Mary said. "You have a lovely home."

"Oh, thank you, and it's our pleasure. We're always happy to meet new neighbors."

"We brought this over," Dwight said, handing over the bottle of wine he'd been holding.

"Thank you, very much. I'll take this into the kitchen to my wife."

"No you won't, dear, because I'm out here now," Blaine heard his mother's voice suddenly as she entered from the direction of the kitchen. She walked over to join the group. "Welcome," she said. "I'm Jane Anderson."

Once everyone had been introduced, Blaine's mother said that dinner was just about ready and that everyone could head on in and sit at the dining table while she went and brought out the food.

"I'll help you with that, mom," Blaine said as the group parted ways.

Once the Evans' were safely out of earshot, Blaine's mother was the first to speak up. "Well, is it as bad as you thought it was going to be?"

Blaine rolled his eyes. "No, it's not. Sorry I've been such a diva all day, I just really want this to go well."

"I think we're off to a great start, then," she reassured him. "Here, you carry in the spaghetti and I'll get the green beans and the garlic toast."

Blaine picked up the big pot of noodles and meat sauce from the stove and followed his mother into the dining room. He quickly surveyed the seating arrangement: his father sat at one end of the rectangular table and Mr. Evans sat at the other end; Stevie and Stacey were sitting opposite each other on the corners next to Mr. Evans; Mrs. Evans and Sam sat across from one another, each of them on next to one of the kids, leaving the corner spots closest to Blaine's father empty.

_Yes! I can sit next to Sam!_

Blaine and his mother placed the food on the table and took their seats, his mother next to Mrs. Evans and himself next to Sam.

"Everything smells _amazing_, Jane," Mary said. "Thank you so much for cooking all this for us."

"It was nothing at all," she replied. "I just hope everyone likes Italian food."

All five of the Evans' agreed at once. Blaine was about to suggest that everyone dig in, but Mr. Evans started speaking first.

"We usually say grace before dinner, but if y'all don't, it's not a big deal."

Blaine was a bit thrown off by this. The Andersons rarely went to church (they were one of those notorious Christmas-and-Easter families) and they didn't really say grace at dinner, but they didn't consider themselves irreligious; Blaine had always loved the idea of spirituality and divine presence, even if it wasn't a big part of his life.

"We don't mind at all," Blaine's father said.

Blaine could tell that Sam's father was pleased by this. He then felt something tap his left arm and looked to see Sam holding out his right hand. Unsure of what was going on at first, Blaine noticed that the Evans' had all joined hands, so he figured he should follow suit.

_I'm all for anything that gives me a chance to hold hands with this fine boy._

Blaine took his father's hand in his right and Sam's hand in his left. It felt awesome, as good as hand-holding could feel, and Blaine felt the same tingling sensation he felt the first time he shook Sam's hand.

"Let's see…Sam, would you do the honors?" Mr. Evans spoke again.

"Sure thing, dad." All the Evans' bowed their heads and closed their eyes, and Blaine did so as well. "Father God, we give thanks for this day and for the food you've put before us, and also thanks to Mrs. Anderson for graciously preparing it all. I also give thanks that my family arrived safely at our new home and that our first week here has been so nice thanks to the Andersons. Thank you for bringing us together this evening and for the chance to forge new friendships. Amen."

"Amen," said the rest of the table.

"That was lovely, Sam," Blaine's mother said, smiling warmly at the blonde boy. "Now, everybody help yourselves."

As serving spoons were passed around and everyone loaded up their plates, Blaine's mind went back to Sam's prayer. He was fascinated by the way Sam's speaking became so eloquent and reverent, unlike his usually more care-free speech. Plus, during the last part, he could have sworn he felt Sam squeeze his hand a bit, but it was probably just wishful thinking.

* * *

The remainder of dinner ran very smoothly. Blaine's parents opened the bottle of wine that the Evans' had brought over. Blaine and Sam asked to have some; neither of them were very fond of the taste, finding it too bitter, and their parents laughed at their grimaced expressions. The conversation flowed well: the adults talked about what they did for a living, leading to a discussion of the Evans' move to Lima; the kids talked a bit about school, Stevie and Stacey informing everyone that they would be entering fourth and second grade, respectively, and Blaine and Sam recounting their discovery that they would both be seniors at McKinley once school started.

Once everyone was finished eating, Mr. Evans was the first to speak.

"Well, everything was just delicious. Thank you so much, again, for having us over."

"Yes, indeed," Sam's mother agreed, "Jane this meal was fantastic. Do you need any help with the dishes?"

Blaine's mother waved off the question. "Oh, don't worry about that. We can take care of it."

"Jane," Sam's mother continued, "I insist. I wouldn't feel right not helping out when you went to all this trouble for us.

_Now I can see where Sam gets that stubbornness from_, Blaine thought, chucking inwardly.

Blaine's mother looked like she was about to protest again, but Mrs. Evans began to pick up her plate and Stevie's, so she decided to give in. "Well, if you insist. I never say no to free help." The two women continued chatting as they carried dishes into the kitchen. Blaine and Sam started to take their plates as well, but Blaine's father stopped them. "Don't worry about that, boys, we'll handle cleaning up. Why don't you go hang out for a while?"

"Oh, okay, if you're sure," Blaine said.

"Yeah, go on, kids," he said with a wink.

"All right then," Blaine said. "We can go hang in my room."

"Sounds great," Sam said.

Blaine led the way to his bedroom with butterflies in his stomach. _Holy fuck! Sam is going to be in my bedroom for the first time. I hope I remembered to clean it up a bit._

When they reached the doorway, Blaine stood aside and motioned for Sam to enter first, which Sam did.

"Welcome to Chez Blaine," Blaine said with a theatrical flourish.

"Sweet room, man," was all Sam said as he looked around, surveying Blaine's things. He looked at the movie and band posters on the walls, the keyboard in the corner, the trophies from Blaine's various competitions (mostly boxing tournaments), and the pictures set up on his shelf. One picture in particular seemed to catch Sam's attention.

"Who are all these people in this picture?"

Blaine walked over to see which one he was referring to. He saw that it was a picture of the New Directions in the choir room from the previous year.

"Oh, that's me and the glee club at McKinley. There's Finn and Rachel, Santana, Mercedes, Mike, Puck—they've all graduated this last year—and Artie, Tina, me…"

Blaine suddenly became aware that Sam was gaping at him.

"You're in glee club? You never said that you can sing. You just said you play the piano."

Blaine laughed. "Well, yeah, I like to sing. Do you sing? You only said you play guitar."

Sam blushed a cute shade of pink. "I like to sing, but I don't know if I'm very good at it; you're probably way better than me."

"Hey, come on," Blaine said encouragingly, "that's no way to talk. Why don't you sing something?"

"Maybe another time," Sam said with a coy smile. "Besides, I'd much rather hear you sing."

"You don't even know if I'm any good," Blaine returned.

"If you're in the glee club, you've got to be pretty good, I'd think. Plus, your speaking voice is really nice—like, I could see you as a radio person—so it seems like you'd be able to sing."

Blaine was sure he turned bright red at Sam's remark, but he hoped it wasn't unbelievably obvious. Luckily, Sam caught sight of his closet and the subject changed.

"Whoa, big closet, dude, and nice clothes. Even though today I remembered to plan my outfit and change before leaving the house, you still manage to make me feel under-dressed."

"Oh, stop it, you look very spiffy tonight," Blaine said, immediately regretting using the word "spiffy," although Sam didn't seem to notice. "I actually got into my bow tie drawer for tonight, but then I figured that might be too much," he went on, fudging the truth a little and leaving out what had happened just before the Evans' had arrived.

Sam began to giggle. "You have a drawer for bow ties? A whole drawer?"

Blaine also laughed along with him, able to see the comedy of the admission. "Yeah, it's right here."

Sam looked in and saw Blaine's collection of all different colors and patterns of bow ties and just laughed even more, which didn't help Blaine's giggle box calm down at all. Finally, Sam regained his composure enough to speak.

"You're something else, Blaine. You know that?"

Blaine wasn't sure what to make of Sam's comment, but thought it couldn't be bad if he was smiling so brilliantly while saying it.

"Oh, before we get too sidetracked," Blaine said, diverting the conversation again, "here's my movie and video-game collection." He pointed to the rack of shelves covered in rectangular plastic boxes.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Sam exclaimed, rushing over to check out Blaine's library of selections. He started pointing out games and movies they both owned, which was actually quite a few, and ones that he wanted to borrow at some point.

Right in the middle of discussing whether _Dark Knight Rises_ or _The Avengers_ was the better movie, the boys heard Sam's mother calling from the other room that it was time to leave. Sam and Blaine went out to the living room to join the rest of the group. When they entered, their parents were busy saying goodbye and thanking each other for dinner and help with cleaning up.

"This has been so much fun," Mary stated. "It was lovely to meet your family."

"Likewise," Blaine's father replied. "We'll have to do this again sometime."

"Certainly," Mr. Evans said, "and we'll have you over for dinner next time."

They chatted for a minute or two more before the Evans' decided it was time to go home and get the kids ready for bed.

"I'll walk you guys out," Blaine said. His parents said their final goodbyes before he led them back to the front door.

Mr. Evans stopped in front of Blaine. "Blaine, it was nice to finally meet you in person."

He smiled. "You too, Mr. Ev—I mean, Dwight."

Sam's mother hugged Blaine again. "Your parents are just as nice as you are, sweetie. This was a lovely evening."

"Thank you, Mary, I had a great time too."

Sam was next to leave. "Nice seeing you again, Blaine, as always. I'll see you soon."

Blaine didn't think he'd ever get tired of seeing Sam's face or hearing his voice. "Okay, I'll hold you to that, Sam. Good night."

Stacey followed after Sam quickly, issuing a brief "Bye, Blaine" before heading out the door. "Bye, Stacey," he said, chuckling at her adorableness. As Stevie was about to walk outside he stopped just short of the door, turned and looked at Blaine.

"Do you like my brother Sammy?" he asked.

Blaine wasn't sure what the boy meant, so he just went with what seemed like the best answer. "Of course I like Sam, Stevie. He's my friend."

Stevie nodded. "That's good. He likes you too, I know he does, so I just wanted to make sure you like him."

Sam turned around to see where Stevie was, and called out upon seeing he was still in the Andersons' house talking to Blaine.

"I gotta go," Stevie said. "Bye." With that, he ran outside and joined his family crossing the lawn back to their home.

Blaine shut the door, wracking his brain over the odd encounter.

_Do I like Sam? Kid, you don't even know the half of it._


	4. Chapter 4

**Another update already? What is this madness?! Yeah, so basically I felt bad about the long wait between the second and third chapters, plus I felt like giving y'all a little New Year's gift (consider this update my midnight-kiss to all of you), _plus_ I couldn't wait to write this chapter. It's the one that everything has been leading up to, and I think everyone who's read so far knows what that means ;) Don't get ahead of yourself—the boys aren't ready for _that_ yet—but it is a big turning point. **

**Read, review, and enjoy!**

**P.S. I went back and edited the second and third chapters (fixing grammatical errors and rewording a few awkward phrases), so if those mistakes really bothered anyone, like they did me (lol), you can go back and see they've been fixed.**

**P.S.S. If anyone has a Twitter and would like to follow me, you are more than welcome to do so, although I will warn you that few can handle the profound lack of excitement involved in my everyday life :P You can find my Twitter handle on my profile page. Anyway, there it is :)**

* * *

When Blaine woke up the next morning, he couldn't help but smile thinking back on the previous night. It really couldn't have gone any better. It didn't take long, though, before his short conversation with Stevie crept into his mind.

_"Do you like my brother Sammy?...He likes you too…" What an odd question for such a young kid._

Blaine decided to head into the shower, the place where he did the majority of his thinking. As he stood under the hot water, he considered what Stevie could have meant by saying that to him.

_Maybe he's just an adorably protective little brother who wants to make sure his big brother is making good friends…or maybe he really wonders if I _like_ Sam. Man, if so, that kid has the best gaydar I've ever seen. Who am I kidding? He probably doesn't even know what "gay" is yet._

After mulling it over for a few minutes and failing to reach any sort of sound conclusion, Blaine figured it wasn't really that important anyway and got out of the shower. He wrapped a towel around his waist and made his way to his bedroom to get dressed. On his way, Blaine heard the sound of his phone ringing. He picked up his pace to reach it before he missed the call, but just as he was walking through the door to his room, the ringing stopped.

_Damn it, I wonder who that was. Probably mom or dad checking in._

Blaine picked up his phone to see who had been trying to reach him. He turned on his screen and saw the notification of the missed call.

**1 Missed Call: Sam**

_Shit! What if he thinks I'm ignoring him?_

Frantically, Blaine went to his contacts to return the call. It rang once, twice, and almost a full three times—Blaine was about to assume that Sam wasn't going to pick up—when he heard Sam's voice come through his speaker.

"Hello? Blaine?"

"Hi, Sam. Sorry I missed your call. I was just getting out of the shower."

"No worries, I was in the middle of leaving you a message."

_He was leaving me a voicemail? How sweet! Who still does that these days?_, Blaine thought. "Well now you've got the real me. What's up?"

"Well, as you know, I've been pretty busy with unpacking these last few days. Today, I finally have my room all unpacked and set up, and to celebrate this momentous occasion, I was wondering if you'd like to have a little guy's night with me."

Blaine sat down on his bed to eliminate the possibility of passing out from sheer elation. He kept his voice calm, however.

"That sounds fun…you mean like a sleepover?"

Sam laughed on the other end. "Basically, yes. I was trying to man it up a little, but yes, would you like to have a sleepover at my place tonight?" Blaine could practically hear Sam's smile through the phone. He laughed too.

"I would love to," he said. "I'm just surprised you're not tired of me yet after seeing me every day for the past three days."

Sam chuckled. "Oh, Blaine, I'm nowhere near tired of you. Plus, you're my only friend here, so my options of people to invite were pretty limited."

"Gee, thanks for that," Blaine said, mock offense present in his voice. "Anyway, what time should I come over?"

"It really doesn't matter to me," Sam said, laughing a little. "All of us here are pretty much done unpacking, so there's not much to do. My dad's at work and my mom took the little ones out for the day to explore the town. You can come over now if you want."

Blaine wasn't sure how to respond. They idea of getting to spend hours with Sam alone in his house was tantalizing at least, but he thought he would have much more time to get ready. Still, he didn't want to give Sam the idea that he was trying to put off hanging out, so he decided to just go with it.

"Okay, then, sure. Should I bring anything with me?"

"Whatever movies or games you want, and obviously something to sleep in," Sam replied, smile again almost audible over the phone.

Blaine rolled his eyes, even though Sam couldn't see him. "Har-dee-har," Blaine said sarcastically, "Okay, I'll be there shortly. Like I said, I just got out of the shower, so I need a few minutes to make my appearance suitable for the light of day."

Sam laughed out loud at this, but then groaned a little. "Don't take too long. From what I've seen, you're very good at looking perfect, but this isn't any special occasion. I would argue that you could even not gel your hair down if you really didn't want to."

Blaine almost missed everything that came after Sam told him he always looked "perfect," but the mention of not gelling his hair broke him out of his stupor.

"Whoa, Sam, that's a little too fast for me. I have to be able to trust you with my life before I reveal my natural hair."

"Okay, okay, I understand," Sam said. "I'll see you in _just a few minutes_, though, right?"

Blaine laughed at Sam's not-so-subtle hint. "Yes, yes, I'll be there soon. Bye."

"See you. Bye."

About ten minutes later, Blaine was ready to go. He wanted to be quick, but he also couldn't completely sacrifice his sense of fashion, so he went with the most stylishly casual outfit he owned: a pair of well-fitting red jeans and a navy-blue t-shirt. Of course, he also gelled down his hair. Blaine threw some toiletries, clothes to sleep in (a white shirt and a pair of plaid sleep pants), and a few of the games and movies that had interested Sam into an overnight bag. Before leaving, he called both his parents to tell them what his plans were and that they probably wouldn't see him until the next day.

Blaine walked next door and was just about the ring the bell when the front door flew open, scaring him nearly to death.

"Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed. The next sound he heard was Sam's laughter.

"Oh, shit, I didn't mean to startle you that badly," he managed to get out between fits of giggles. "I just saw you walking over and thought it would be funny to open the door before you knocked or rang the bell."

By this time, Blaine was laughing at what had happened too. "Good Lord, that was terrifying."

"Well, now that the ice has been broken already, come on in."

Blaine looked around as Sam was shutting the front door. The Evans' had apparently been unpacking nonstop since they moved in because it looked like they had been living there for months. Blaine didn't see much of the house the last time he had been inside, but there were no boxes anywhere and everything looked just right.

"You guys have made this place really homey," Blaine mused out loud.

"Thanks," Sam said. "Come on, it's my turn to present my bedroom."

Sam led Blaine down the hallway. They passed a door on the right that had Stevie and Stacey's names on the door; Sam stopped at the next room on the right. He opened the door and flipped on the lights, motioning for Blaine to enter.

"After you, good sir," he said with a hilarious British accent.

Blaine snorted at this. "Why, thank you, sir." He entered the room and immediately began looking around, as Sam had done the previous night. Like Blaine, Sam also had some posters for bands and movies on his walls. There was also quite a bit of sports memorabilia around (posters, a couple of jerseys, and a signed ball), mostly football.

_Just as I suspected,_ Blaine thought, _total football jock. He definitely looks the part._

Blaine also noticed Sam's acoustic guitar standing in a corner of the room.

"Wow, that's a beautiful guitar," he said admiringly.

"Thanks, my grandpa made it for me."

"Really? That's amazing," Blaine said as he looked back at Sam. He gave another glance around the room before speaking again. "I can't believe you've gotten it looking this good after three days. It looks like you've been living here forever."

"Yeah, it's hard to believe. I've just felt really at home here, I guess," Sam said, his voice laden with sweetness. He soon turned his attention to the bag Blaine had brought with him. "Where are my manners? You can set that on my bed."

Blaine set the bag down and unzipped it. "I brought over some of the games that you said you wanted to play." He grabbed the stack and laid them on the bed. Sam picked them up and looked at each one, eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Nice. Hey, do you want to check out my collection too and see if there's anything you'd like to play?"

"Sure," Blaine replied. Sam led him over to the rack containing his assortment of video games. Blaine looked it over and soon the two boys decided on a good, old-fashioned round of _Halo_.

Blaine sat cross-legged toward the edge of Sam's bed while the blonde went to put the game disc in his Xbox 360. Blaine took advantage of the view again to ogle Sam's ass.

_God, he's so perfect, _Blaine thought, hoping he wasn't drooling. _The things I would do to tha—_

"Prepare to go down, Anderson," he heard Sam say, breaking him away from his thought, although it didn't completely pull his mind out of the gutter.

_Mmm, I wish. You just say the word._

He quickly realized that continuing to think that way about Sam, especially when he would be staying the night, could be very embarrassing.

"Gloat now, Evans, but don't expect me to hold back and give you a break because you're the new kid in town. I'm giving you all I've got."

_Shit, there I go again._

* * *

The rest of the afternoon just flew by. The boys played _Halo_ for a few hours—they were both highly impressed with the other's level of skill—before getting bored and switching to _Grand Theft Auto IV_, taking turns running around and wreaking havoc until being swarmed and killed by the police. They were just about to put in _Left 4 Dead 2_ when Sam got a call from his mother. She said she was going to pick up some pizzas for dinner on her way home and asked what kind Sam and Blaine would like. They agreed that just a plain pepperoni would be fine, and Sam's mother said she would be home soon. While they waited, Sam's dad got home from work; he went and greeted the boys and they told him that dinner was on its way.

Once Mary and the kids arrived with the pizza, Blaine and Sam sat with the rest of his family at the dinner table. Stevie and Stacey talked all about the things they had done with their mother that day: they had gone to the park and played, ate lunch at the little restaurant Blaine had pointed out to Sam a couple of days earlier, and looked around in a few stores. Before long, everyone had eaten their fill of the pizza, and there was still much left over.

"We can definitely raid that stash later if we get hungry again," Sam had whispered to Blaine.

After eating, the kids went to play in their room while Dwight and Mary cleaned up. Sam and Blaine went back to Sam's room to continue their gaming session. Another couple of hours later it was nighttime, and there was a knock on the door.

Sam paused the game. "Come in."

The door opened and Mary stuck her head in. "Hi, boys. I'm about to get the kids ready for bed, and your father and I are probably turning in soon too, so do you think y'all could keep the zombie splattering sound effects to a minimum.

"Sure thing, mom," Sam said.

"Thank you, sweetie. Good night, boys."

"Good night," Sam and Blaine said in unison as Mary closed the door again.

Sam looked at Blaine. "You hungry again? I could get us some more pizza and we could eat in here and watch a movie or something."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Blaine said. "Want me to come with you?"

"Nah, I got it. Why don't you pick out something for us to watch?"

"I can do that," Blaine said with a smile. Sam left and went back to the kitchen.

Blaine went through the movies that he'd brought and went to look at Sam's selections as well. Just as he had picked out _Avatar_, Sam was coming back into the room with a plate loaded with pizza slices and a couple of water bottles in his other hand.

"Ah, excellent choice," he said. "Hey, this might sound weird, but do you mind if we wait until after we eat to start the movie?"

"I guess not," Blaine said, a little confused. "Care to explain why?" he continued, laughing a little.

"I suppose that's a fair question," Sam said, starting to giggle too. "It's just my favorite movie of all time and I don't like watching it while eating because the sound of my own chewing makes it hard to hear everything that's happening."

Blaine just broke down and laughed aloud at this. "Oh my God, and you laughed at me about my bow-tie collection?"

Sam started laughing too. "Okay, I've got some nerdy traits too. Sue me."

The boys got over their fits of laughter and dug in to the plate of pizza Sam had brought back for them. Blaine wasn't as hungry as Sam apparently was.

_Geez, how can he be so hungry again? We just ate dinner a few hours ago. I guess anyone with that much muscle has to keep their strength up._

Before long, they had polished off the plate. Blaine, knowing that _Avatar_ was an incredibly long movie, decided it would be wise to get ready for bed before they started watching, in case he fell asleep.

"Hey, Sam, I'm going to get ready for bed before we start the movie."

"Good idea," Sam replied. "You can use the bathroom right across the hall."

Blaine gathered up his toothbrush, toothpaste, and pajamas. He went into the bathroom and brushed his teeth, hoping to rid his mouth of pizza smell so that his breath wouldn't be deadly in the morning. He then slipped off his clothes and got into his comfortable sleep pants and shirt. Blaine walked back into Sam's room and saw that he too had changed into sleepwear. He was sitting on the bed, leaning back against the headboard, tossing a football up in the air.

"You should totally get on the McKinley football team this year," he said. "Something about your room gives me the clue that you like sports."

Sam smiled. "Yeah, I'm planning on it. I played football at my old high school, so it'd be nice to continue," he mused. He then looked at Blaine. "Tell me a little about McKinley."

Blaine got onto the middle of the bed and sat with his legs crossed. "Well," he began, "it's pretty much like any other high school, dominated by cliques: the jocks, the cheerleaders, the nerds, and at the underbelly, the glee club."

Sam's expression showed a mixture of confusion and concern. "What do you mean, 'the underbelly'? Do people pick on y'all?"

Blaine snorted. "Basically. It doesn't matter who you are, but if you're in glee club, you've got a target on your back."

"That's awful," Sam said. "Does anyone do anything about it?"

"Not really," Blaine said sadly. "But, hey, those of us who are in glee are like a family. We always support each other, so even if everyone else is against us, we always have one another."

"Wow, that sucks, but I'm glad you're not alone," Sam said. "It sounds like a pretty close-knit group." Sam hesitated before continuing. "You've never mentioned a significant other…anyone in glee club you've dated?"

_Oh, fuck, here we go. I wondered when this would come up. He didn't ask for specifics. I'll just be as general as possible._

"In glee? No, there are relationships between members, but I've never dated anyone in the club."

"What about other people? Like, what kind of girls are you into?"

_Fuck shit ass damn ball tits!_

Blaine didn't know what to do. He didn't want to lie to Sam, but he also didn't want to risk their friendship. Blaine's mind was racing, when it finally snapped to a decision.

"Sam, I'm gay."

Sam's eyes widened and his mouth fell open a little. Blaine waited, trying to gauge his reaction.

Finally Sam spoke. "Wait, y-you're gay?"

_He doesn't seem too pleased. I'd best just try to get out of this and never come out of my room again._

"I understand if that makes you uncomfortable, and if you want me to leave, I'll do that right now I just didn't want to lie to you since you're my friend—or, were my friend—and I—"

"Blaine, stop talking," Sam said.

Blaine suddenly quieted, relieved that Sam wasn't yelling, but fearing that he might have been in a sort of calm-before-the-storm emotional state.

"Blaine, why would you think I'd want you to leave? Or that I'd be uncomfortable?"

Blaine, feeling more at ease with Sam's reaction, allowed himself to relax. "I don't know," he said, looking at the bed because he couldn't look Sam in the face. "I'm always nervous about telling people who don't know yet. I never know how they'll react. I thought you might have been some homophobic football guy."

To Blaine's surprise, Sam actually started laughing. "What is it?" he asked.

"Blaine, you don't need to worry about me being homophobic. I'm pretty much the exact opposite of homophobic."

Blaine started laughing too, happy to see a genuine smile on Sam's face. "Well, that good to hear. God, I feel so dumb, I can't believe I was so worri—"

"Blaine, I'm gay."

_Hold. The fuck. Up._

Blaine was sure he hadn't heard what he so clearly just had. It didn't make any sense.

"Y-yo-you're w-what?" he managed to force out.

"Gay," Sam answered.

_Yep, apparently I heard right._ Blaine's jaw practically hit the floor.

"That's impossible," Blaine said.

Sam just laughed at this. "Impossible? Why?"

"Because, you, you're gorgeous and you play football and…" Blaine was at a loss for more reasons, and he knew that the ones he had supplied weren't very valid.

"Wait, the football thing I could understand, but are you saying that gay guys can't be gorgeous?" Sam said, still laughing some, but trying to control it due to the seriousness of the situation.

Blaine internally face-palmed at what he had said. "No, no," he tried to defend himself, "it's just that around here, the good ones are all straight."

"Well, that can't be true," Sam said, leaning forward and placing his hand on Blaine's. "Because I see a gorgeous gay boy from around here sitting right in front of me."

_Wait, did he just call me gorgeous…?_

Blaine raised his head again to ask Sam again to repeat himself, but was surprised to see that he had moved. Sam had moved his body forward on the bed toward Blaine; Sam's hand was still on Blaine's. With the decreased distance, when Blaine looked up, he found himself looking directly into Sam's eyes.

"Blaine," Sam said, voice low and a little shaky, "I know we're both pretty confused right now, and we definitely need to have a long conversation, but right now I have a question." He hesitated again; Blaine waited for him to speak.

"Can I kiss you?"

Blaine's breath caught for a moment before he nodded slightly. "Yeah," he said meekly.

A smile spread across Sam's face, and Blaine couldn't remember ever seeing anything so beautiful before in his life. Before he knew it, Sam had leaned forward and had his mouth on Blaine's. Blaine closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose, taking in the moment before he started kissing back.

_God, I'm so glad I literally just brushed my teeth._

Blaine's mind immediately went into sensory overload. He felt Sam's full lips on his; he was vaguely aware that Sam had brought up a hand to cup the back of his neck, and in response Blaine grabbed hold of his strong, well-defined bicep. Sam broke the kiss for just an instant before continuing it, sweet and tender yet firm. Blaine had no idea how long the kiss lasted, but when Sam broke again, moved over and kissed the corner of his mouth, and then sat back, he knew it hadn't lasted long enough.

"Green," Blaine said.

"What are you talking about?" Sam said.

"You're eyes. I've been trying to figure out whether they're green or blue. They're green."

Sam smiled at the boy in front of him. "You're so cute. I wanted to do that the first time I saw you," Sam said sweetly.

Blaine looked him in the eyes, regaining his composure. "I would have let you," he said with a small smile.

Sam smiled back. "I would have, if I had known. Best kiss ever."

Blaine snorted a little laugh. "I have to agree, even though I have nothing to compare it to."

"Hold on," Sam sounded surprised, "you've never been kissed before?"

Blaine shrugged. "No. It's not a big deal, though. I'm glad you were the first."

Sam still looked dumbfounded. "How has someone as beautiful as you gone for seventeen years without being kissed?"

Blaine felt himself go bright red at the question. "Like I said, there were never very many options; it's not a big deal."

"It's a very big deal," Sam declared. "I guess it's up to me to make up all that lost time for you," he said, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Blaine laughed. "God, what an awful task to have to undergo."

Sam grabbed Blaine's face with both his hands and planted another kiss right on his mouth, this time running his tongue lightly along Blaine's top lip.

"That will never be a chore for me."

Blaine smiled, looked away and spotted the _Avatar _box still on the bed. "You still want to put the movie on?"

"Sure, why not?" Sam said. "You get settled. I'll go put it in."

As Sam scooted forward to reach his DVD player, he stole another peck on Blaine's lips, causing Blaine to crack another smile as he turned around and moved back toward the headboard.

"I'm guessing I'll be sleeping in your bed, then?" he asked flirtatiously as he pulled back the covers and situated himself underneath them.

Sam finished putting the movie disc in the player, then turned around to face Blaine. "You bet your cute ass you are," he said, turning off the light so only the television screen illuminated the room. "How else would we cuddle?" He crawled up the bed to where Blaine lay and pulled the covers over himself.

"You know," Blaine said as he snuggled closer to Sam's body, "we still need to discuss all of this."

"I know," said Sam, pressing the play button on the DVD remote and wrapping his arm around Blaine to pull him even closer. "Tomorrow?"

Blaine raised his head slightly to look at Sam and nodded. "Tomorrow."

It wasn't too long into the movie before Blaine felt sleep tugging on his eyelids. He still had a lot of questions for Sam, and he knew Sam had questions for him, but all he could focus on was the fact that Sam had kissed him, multiple times; the fact that he was now in Sam's bed with Sam's arm wrapped around him. Drifting into sleep, the last thing he felt was a soft kiss on his forehead.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello again, readers! I'm literally shocked at how many people have followed this story, marked it as a favorite, left a review; truly, it means so much. This is the chapter where the boys have their little talk, which I know quite a few people expressed excitement for, so I hope it lives up to expectations. I'd also just like to say that I'm pretty proud of what I came up with for the final section of this chapter, so I'd love to hear what y'all think of it :) So anyway, enough prattling on about what's in the chapter, go ahead and see for yourselves! Enjoy! :D**

* * *

Blaine awoke to a couple of quite unfamiliar sensations. The first was the feeling of a warm body pressed against his own. At first, he was rather alarmed by this, but then he quickly remembered the events of the night before.

_Oh, yeah_, Blaine thought, smiling without opening his eyes and snuggling even closer to Sam, _that happened. _Blaine must have rolled over at some point in the night because his face was now resting on Sam's chest and his arm was slung over the boy's stomach.

It was several seconds after this that he became aware of a second sensation slightly more unnerving than the first. Blaine could sense that he was being looked at. Cautiously, he opened one eye, then the other. He tilted his head backward to look up and was met with the sight of the most perfect face he could ever imagine.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," Sam said with a sweet smile.

Despite having just woken up, Blaine couldn't help but smile back. "Morning. How long have you been awake?"

"Not too long. About ten minutes, maybe."

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

Sam raised his hand and started softly stroking Blaine's hair. "Because that would be rude. Plus, you looked so sweet and I didn't want to disturb you. Besides, I didn't really mind you lying on top of me."

Blaine felt himself blush lightly. He looked away from Sam briefly to sit up a bit more on the bed. When he looked back at Sam, he just couldn't help it any more. Blaine cupped the back of Sam's head in his hand and leaned down to kiss him.

"Wait, wait, wait," Sam said hurriedly. Blaine drew back instantly, worried he had done something wrong, but his fear subsided when he saw Sam's smile. "Are you sure you want to do that when I've still got my morning breath?" he asked flirtatiously.

Blaine smiled back at him. "I think it's kind of like onions and garlic: if we both have it, it just gets canceled out."

"I guess I can't argue wi—"

Before he could finish his response, Blaine leaned back down and pressed his mouth to Sam's. It was a dry kiss, close-mouthed, but Blaine thought it was still wonderful, and he had a hunch that Sam was enjoying it as well, judging from the gasp he drew in when their lips met. Blaine felt so empowered; the previous night, Sam had been the one to initiate all of their lip-locks, and it was nice to be the one in control, the one taking another person's breath away. It only lasted a few seconds before Blaine pulled away.

Sam emitted a little whine. "Aw, what'd you do that for?" he said, pouting a bit.

Blaine laughed at his childish behavior. "Because," he said, "you and I still need to have a discussion, and if we stay here, we're never going to get around to it."

Sam let out an exaggerated sigh. "Yeah, yeah, you're right. So, what's the plan?"

Both boys sat up fully on the bed. "Okay, how's this," he began, "I'll go back to my house and change, and you do the same here. Then we can meet outside and walk to the Lima Bean. Sound good?"

"Sounds good," Sam replied with a smile.

"All right, I'll see you in a few minutes," Blaine said, squeezing Sam's hand before getting up to retrieve his things. After packing the few items he had brought back into his overnight bag, Blaine was ready to go and Sam was about to walk him to the door, but Blaine stopped before they left the room.

"I know my parents are at work, so I won't have to worry about them, but I was thinking that maybe you should wait until after we talk and figure all of this out before you mention anything to your family." Blaine was nervous about raising this concern, because he didn't want Sam to think he regretted anything or was ashamed of what had happened between them, but he also thought it should remain just their business until they had talked things out. Thankfully, Sam agreed.

"Yeah, no problem. I'll just tell them what we're doing and I'll meet you outside."

The boys walked to the Evans' front door and said their goodbyes, and Blaine continued to his own home. He walked in and went immediately to the bathroom. He brushed his teeth—_If there's any more kissing, I'd rather my mouth be as fresh as possible_—and wet his hair to reactivate the gel. Only a few curls had come loose during the night, so it didn't take much to get them tamed again. After this, he went to his closet. To avoid taking too much more time, in case Sam was already outside, he put on another simple outfit: blue jeans and a button-down.

When he walked back outside, Blaine was surprised to see that he had beat Sam. Just a few minutes later, Sam walked out of his house and met Blaine on the sidewalk. "Hey, you," he said. "Hope you weren't waiting too long."

Blaine smiled warmly. "Not at all. Ready to go?"

"Yep," Sam said. "And before we get there and you get any ideas, like I said last time, it'll be on me."

"Yes, yes, I remember," Blaine chuckled, and the boys began walking in the direction of the Lima Bean.

* * *

Neither of them said much on the short walk. Blaine was busy thinking of everything he wanted to ask, everything he wanted to cover, and he figured Sam was doing the same. At one point Blaine had considered reaching over and holding Sam's hand, but he wasn't sure Sam would go for something like that, so he just held off.

When they reached the coffee shop, they walked to the counter. Sam ordered them both medium drips and paid. With drinks in hand, they found an empty booth in a corner of the place where they could have their privacy. Once they slid into the seats across from one another, Blaine felt a bit uneasy, trying to think of what to say first.

"So," he said, "it seems like we both learned something last night."

Sam laughed, helping to relieve some of the tension, "Yeah, it seems that way." Another few moments of silence passed before Sam continued. "I think I learned that my gaydar is nowhere near as good as I thought it was."

"I guess mine isn't either," Blaine said, feeling more comfortable now that the mood had been lightened. "I think your little brother's might be better than either of ours," he said, remembering what Stevie had said to him the night of the dinner party.

A questioning look crossed Sam's face. "Stevie? What do you mean?"

"When your family was leaving after the dinner party, Stevie stopped and asked me if I liked you."

Sam's jaw dropped a bit and he covered his face with his hands. "Oh my God, he said that to you?"

Blaine laughed at Sam's embarrassment, but continued with his story. "I told him that I did and he said that was good because he knew you liked me."

Sam dropped his hands and his face was bright red. "I can't believe that little turd," he said shaking his head.

"What?" Blaine asked, still laughing some, "Was he not supposed to say anything?"

"No, it's just that it's weird for him. I guess he heard me gushing about you and decided to keep tabs on my love life."

The two continued to share a laugh, but Blaine was the first to speak again. "Okay, so that brings me to my next question. If you've been doing so much 'gushing,'" he said, making air-quotes and causing Sam to roll his eyes, "about me, I take that to mean you're out to your family."

Sam took a drink before answering. "Yeah, I am, to all of them. I have been ever since I was about twelve and realized that I wasn't interested in any of the girls in my class."

"How did they take it?" Blaine asked.

Sam shrugged his shoulders. "Just fine. I was worried when I told them, but they've never been anything but supportive." Both boys smiled; Blaine was always elated to hear positive coming-out stories. "What about you?" Sam asked.

Blaine snorted out a small laugh. "My parents never had a doubt. They figured out I was gay before I even knew the word. And they've been awesome my whole life too."

"Wow, your whole life? That's pretty impressive."

"Yeah, I think their first hint was my love of dressing up and my immaculate sense of style. Either that or the fact that I was constantly talking about all the other boys in my classes all through elementary school and junior high."

Sam cracked up. "Well, I definitely noticed your sense of style, but I didn't assume you were gay."

Blaine saw a chance to have a little fun. "But did you think about it?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Sam blushed again. "Of course I thought about it. But then I saw your boxing trophies and the idea you were straight kind of got finalized for me."

"So now you're saying that gay boys can't be boxers?" Blaine said, cracking a smile.

"Hey, at least it's not as bad as you making the extremely misguided claim that gay boys can't be gorgeous," he said.

"Touché," Blaine said, "but give me a break, I was flustered. I think we've both got our stereotypes straightened out now, and there shouldn't be any more problems."

"That's good," Sam said. He then returned to their previous topic. "What about your friends in glee club? Do they know about you?"

"Oh yes, definitely. In that bunch, there aren't really any secrets."

Sam became suddenly more serious. "I know you said that you get picked on a lot for being in glee club," he said. "What about for being gay?"

Blaine sighed. "Like I said, everyone in glee club takes a lot of shit from the rest of the school. Nerd, cheerleader, it doesn't matter. But I am the only out kid at McKinley, so things can be rough."

"What kinds of things have happened?" Sam asked, face very concerned.

"Nothing too bad," Blaine tried to reassure him. "It's mostly name-calling with the occasional locker-check or slushy to the face."

"Holy shit," Sam said. "And no one does anything about it?"

"It's really only the jocks who do anything, and only a few of them are especially nasty; the others just kind act intimidating. The other students are just afraid if they step in, they'll get it just as badly."

Now a look of realization graced Sam's face. "Is that why you were so worried about coming out to me? Your experience with the jocks at school?"

Blaine gave him a sympathetic look. "Don't go crazy over it; I should have trusted that you'd be accepting. But I suppose I do tend to equate football players with big homophobic assholes now."

"I'm so sorry," Sam said, reaching out and putting a hand on Blaine's on top of the table. "Not even the staff does anything?"

"Are you kidding?" Blaine scoffed. "The school does everything they can to protect their precious football players. Besides, some teachers just don't care."

"Well, when I'm there with you this year, you can count on me to protect you," Sam said, smiling.

Blaine smiled back. "I'm sure I can, Mr. Evans. None of them nearly as big and strong as you. You can be my white knight any day."

The two shared another laugh before Sam spoke up again. He kept his face pointed toward the table, but raised his eyes to look at Blaine. "So if I'm your white knight, what would you say to being my…Prince Charming?"

Blaine was taken aback. _Fuck, did he just ask me what I think he did? Be cool, Anderson, be cool. Just go with it._

"Well," he said, trying to keep his increased nervousness from becoming too apparent. "That depends. Would you then be my damsel in distress?"

_Wow, this just got really Disney really fast._

Sam laughed out loud at this and went a little red. "Okay, maybe I didn't quite think the logic through as far as I should have on that one. Can we both be Prince Charmings?"

Blaine giggled at Sam's childlike excitement. "What exactly would those titles entail?"

"Oh, you know," Sam began, "talking all the time, seeing each other as often as possible, various forms of close physical contact, such as cuddling, hugging, and especially kissing since I've gotten a sample of that and it's just amazing; pretty typical stuff."

Blaine couldn't stop smiling. For one thing, Sam had answered his question in his usual humorous way. But the other part of it was that Blaine had never been happier in his life. Here he was with the boy of his dreams listing out all of the things he'd like them to do together. The thought crossed his mind that this might be a dream, that he had fallen asleep on his bed while counting the bumps on his ceiling and the last four days weren't real. He broke out of his daze when he felt Sam's warm hands take hold of both his own.

"Well, Blaine?"

Blaine looked him in the eyes. "Sorry, I'm just having a little trouble processing all this. Yesterday I thought I was doomed to a summer of pining over you with no hope of those feelings ever being returned. Now you're here holding my hands and…and…" He was so overcome that he couldn't find the words to finish the thought. Sam finished it for him.

"And asking you to be my boyfriend." Blaine was still a little speechless, so Sam continued. "Blaine, I know that we've known each other for less than a week and that I might just be too emotional to be thinking very logically, but there is one thing I know for sure: I've never met anyone like you. You make my heart race every time I see you, you make me smile like no one else ever has, and you're just beautiful inside and out. I think we have something special, and I'd like to see where we can take it."

Blaine nearly shed tears at the beauty of Sam's speech. He'd never had anyone talk this way about him before, and it so perfectly captured what he himself was feeling. "Thank you, Sam. I feel the same way. I've had crushes before, but I've never felt this way about anyone before, and I think it's worth exploring."

Sam's smile grew even bigger, larger than Blaine thought that even his full lips would allow. "So then, is that a yes?"

Blaine nodded. "Yes."

At the same time, the boys each leaned forward over the table and met with a sweet, tender kiss. Blaine was glad that had chosen to sit where they did, and also that the Lima Bean wasn't very busy, because they were pretty much out of sight of the few other patrons in the shop.

_Not that I'd care if anyone bitched at us anyway, _Blaine thought as his mouth moved softly against Sam's, _my big, sexy _boyfriend_ could the hell out of anyone who might give us any trouble._

The boys quickly finished their drinks and started their walk home. As soon as they were outside, Blaine reached over and grabbed Sam's hand, lacing their fingers together, and this is the way they stayed all the way home.

* * *

Once back on their street, walking toward their houses, Blaine decided to bring up something that had been at the back of his mind.

"Hey, Sam. I have a question."

"What's that?"

"It's probably not so great to bring this up literally minutes after we've gotten together, but something you said last night got me thinking. You were shocked that I'd never been kissed before you…so I'm assuming that you have before me."

Sam let out a sigh. "I thought this might come up. Yeah, I have. There were a couple of guys I kissed when I was younger, and I've had one actual steady boyfriend."

Blaine breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he wouldn't be too terribly unqualified to be date Sam. Sam bumped Blaine lightly on the arm with his elbow. "Don't worry, you didn't just get into a relationship with some floozy; none of them compare to that first kiss with you. Besides, I think it's very sweet that I got to be the first boy to kiss you."

Blaine blushed at this. "Sorry, I just didn't want to be too inexperienced for you," he said with a sheepish look up at Sam.

"Hey, just relax. There's a lot that I haven't experienced either," Sam said, giving Blaine a wink. He noticed that they were nearing their houses. "Do you have to go home now?"

Blaine gave a little pout that made Sam laugh. "Unfortunately, yes. As much as I'd like to spend more time with you, I think my parents would appreciate the chance to see me with their own eyes."

"I understand. I haven't really spent much time with Stevie and Stacey these last couple days either, so I'd like to play with them for a while."

Once they reached Sam's house, Blaine was about to stop so they could say goodbye, but Sam kept walking. "Sam, you just passed your house," Blaine said, confused.

"I know. What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't walk you to your doorstep and ensure your safe arrival home?" Sam replied.

Blaine chuckled and shook his head. _I think my boyfriend is literally perfect._

Standing on Blaine's front porch, Sam turned so they were facing each other. Blaine reached out and took hold of his other hand as well.

"Thank you for a lovely afternoon and for the coffee," Blaine said.

"And thank you," Sam said, pausing to lean forward and kiss Blaine for a few seconds, "for being such an amazing guy."

Blaine smiled and looked down briefly. "So, I guess it's safe to mention all of this to our parents now?"

"I don't see why not," Sam said. "I know my parents adore you; my mom's going to freak out—in a good way, I promise—when I tell her about us, though."

"Same here," Blaine said, laughing a little. "I'll tell them tonight once they both get home."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I'll probably do it at dinner tonight. That way I can tell my parents and also take the chance to tell Stevie not to meddle in my romantic affairs."

"Hey, take it easy on him. I mean, he obviously has impeccable taste if he's already given me the stamp of approval."

Now it was Sam's turn to laugh. He leaned his head forward to rest it on Blaine's. "You're so cute," he said with a smile. Blaine raised up his head and kissed the smile off his face.

"You too," he said.

"I'll text or call you later tonight to tell you how it goes with my family tonight."

"All right," Blaine said. "I'll count the minutes unt—"

Sam gave him a light bump on the arm. "Don't go getting too sappy," he said with a laugh.

Blaine scoffed with mock offense. "Whatever, you know you love it."

They stood there for a few seconds just looking at each other. Finally Sam spoke again. "Okay, yes, we should separate now or we'll still be standing here when your parents get home and that'll be weird to explain. So, I'll talk to you tonight?"

Blaine nodded. "You bet."

"Okay, bye." Sam stole another quick peck before turning and walking toward his own house.

"Bye," Blaine said, waving after him. He turned around and went inside, heading straight for his room, squealing and jumping all the way. He wanted to get as much of that out as he could so that he didn't get overly excited later when he told his parents about his new, sweet, amazing, sexy, and, most importantly, gay boyfriend.

* * *

Sitting around the dinner table that evening, Blaine tried to think of a way to work what had happened between him and Sam into the conversation. His parents were busy chatting about their days while Blaine barely touched his food. Finally, his father brought him into the conversation.

"So, Blaine, how was it over at Sam's?"

_Damn it, I was planning on being the one to introduce this subject._

"I-It was, um, it was great. We played video games and I ate with the family and…yeah."

"Sounds like you had fun," his father commented.

"Yeah, I did." _Okay, best to just throw it out there._ "I, um, something interesting did happen, though."

"Oh?" his father said.

"Yeah, um, Sam and I were talking and I found out that—well, Sam told me that, um…"

_Shit, I sound like a bumbling moron! This isn't hard; I found out that Sa—_

"You found out that Sam is gay?" Blaine's mother's voice broke his train of thought.

_Da fuq?_

Blaine was flabbergasted. He looked at his mother for some sign of joking or anything, but she was just casually cutting up her meat, looking at her plate.

"Um, actually, yes, mom…How did you guess that?"

Now Blaine saw the slightest smirk turn up the corners of her mouth, and he knew she had been up to something.

"Oh, I already knew that."

Blaine was stuck between a feeling on confusion and anger. "What do you mean, you already that?"

"Well, now that you know, I guess I can tell you." His mother put down her utensils to look at him. "Okay, you know how I met Dwight and Mary Evans at dinner here the other night?"

Blaine couldn't tell where she was going, but he definitely wanted to hear what she had to say. "Yes."

"Well, really I was meeting Dwight. I had already met Mary the day before."

"Okay. Go on."

"It was the day after Sam had first come over here. I was walking to the car so I could leave for work, and I saw Mary outside of their house. So I walked over and introduced myself, and we chatted for a few minutes."

"Where does the knowledge of Sam's sexuality fit into all of this?"

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there. Anyway, I mentioned that you had met Sam the day before, and she said that Sam had told them about meeting you, and well, you know me, once I get to talking, and it sort of slipped out that you seemed rather taken with him—"

"You said what?" Blaine screeched, alerting even his father, who had been passively listening to the whole exchange. "Why would you say something like that to a total stranger?"

"Goodness, Blaine, calm down. I'll get there. So anyway, I made the comment that you were rather taken with him, to which Mary replied that Sam had spoken highly of you as well. Then, I didn't want things to get tense or awkward, so I figured I'd make sure she knew what I was talking about, so I just went ahead and informed her that you were gay, and she then told me that Sam was too."

By now, Blaine had his face buried in his hands. He was embarrassed and upset that his mother had given such personal details to someone she barely knew. He was also upset that she hadn't told him immediately.

"So you mean to tell me that you not only shared personal information about me to our brand new neighbor during your very first conversation, but you've also known for three days that my boyfriend is gay and you didn't think to tell me about it?"

Now it was his parents' turn to look surprised.

"What did you say, son?" his father said.

_Oh, crap, I wanted to be direct, but I at least wanted to lead them into it._

"What's this about a boyfriend, Blaine?" his mother said.

Blaine figured it was out now, so no sense in trying to beat around the bush any longer.

"Yeah, we both ended up coming out to each other and then he kissed me and—"

His mother's eyes widened in shock. "My word, you boys acted fast. Mary and I thought it would be at least a week before anything happened. How was it? Did you see fireworks, Blaine?"

Blaine's dad now spoke up. "Jane, not that I'm not happy for our son, but why didn't I hear about any of this?"

She patted her husband on the cheek softly. "Oh, honey, because I knew you'd tune me out if I tried to tell you anyway. Now, Blaine, about this kiss, wha—"

The sound of Blaine's phone ringing interrupted his mother's sentence. Blaine took it out of his pocket, already having an idea of who it was. He looked at the screen.

**Incoming Call: Sam**

"Hold on, it's Sam," he exclaimed, leaving the table to answer the call. He went into the living room and accepted it.

"Hi there," he began.

Sam sounded exasperated on the other end. "Blaine, you're not going to believe this. Apparently the other day our moms were talking and they talked about us and—"

"Yeah," Blaine interrupted, "one step ahead of you. I was just hearing about that myself."

Sam sighed, and then started laughing. "Oh my God, can you believe this? Parents, man."

"You mean moms," Blaine said with another laugh. "So, apart from all this secrecy and deception becoming known, how did it go?"

"They're ecstatic, all of them, especially my mom. She already was in love with you and now it's just even more."

Blaine jumped a little and smiled, thankful that Sam's family accepted their relationship. "That's a relief. My mom was just in the middle of asking me to describe our first kiss when you called."

Sam groaned. "Dear Lord, that's embarrassing. Well, what did you tell her?" Blaine could hear his smile in his voice.

"I got up before answering, but I guess I'll just have to tell her the truth: that it was everything anyone could ever want a kiss to be, and that you were perfect."

Sam didn't say anything for a second, and Blaine imagined he was probably blushing, wishing he could see it in person. Finally he spoke. "Sounds like a pretty accurate description," he said. "I approve."

Blaine laughed. "Okay, well, I've got to go finish dinner and satisfy my mother's curiosity."

"All right," Sam said, "me too. They all have questions, especially Stevie and Stacey. I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

"You got it. Good night, Sam," Blaine said, making a kiss sound into the phone.

Sam mimicked the noise. "Sweet dreams, Prince Charming."

With that, Blaine hung up and went back into the dining room. He sat down and continued eating, though the smile on his face was impossible to get rid of.

His mother looked at him. "Well," she said. "Now that you've had your Evans-nightcap, care to tell us more about the blossoming of this relationship?"

Blaine started to speak, but thought again. "You know what, mom? I think it's only fair that you be kept in the dark about some things."

Her expression looked shocked. "You mean to tell me that my little boy just got his first boyfriend, the boy of his dreams, and he's not going to give me all the juicy details."

Blaine smirked. "Yep. Kind of sucks, doesn't it?"

As they all resumed dinner, Blaine couldn't help but relish the defeated look on his mother's face and the constant chuckling of his father for seeing his wife in a state she was rarely in, speechless.


End file.
